The monastery was built at the expense of the
princess of Molfetta, Andronica del Balzo, and
was often used as a study centre for novitiates
before it was closed under various suppression
acts. It was re-opened in 1886. In late October
1907, Brother Pio started studying theology at
the monastery of Serracapriola under the guidance
of E. Agostino
from San Marco in Lamis, who became his Spiritual
Adviser. Padre Agostino wrote: "I met Padre
Pio in 1907. Despite being a little sickly, he was
good, obedient and a hard-working student. Nothing
in him pointed to extraordinary or supernatural
events." Yet God, who always confounds the
wise of the world, shattered the designs of the
priests of Israel and, contrary to the expectations
of those without divine knowledge, came among us
in the lowliest state of abjection: He was born
in Joseph's humble home, renounced a home, however
humble, among relatives and friends in the city
of Judea, and, like reject of society, turned to
animals for refuge and help and chose their home
as a birthplace :.. "(Epist. IV p. 972)
Padre Pio's Spirituality
Spiritual
school
"Let
us always trust in God, and may our lively faith and the comfort of Christian
hope assist us in this. We must pray continually, moreover, that peace may soon
smile on the nations. We should turn our thoughts to heaven, our true homeland,
of which our earthly country is but a dim image, and make every effort with the
divine assistance to preserve at all times, amidst happy or sad events, the cheerful
calm that becomes the true followers of the fair Nazarene" (Epist. I,
p. 596)
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